About the project
UK coastal habitats such as seagrasses provide critical ecosystem services for human well-being and biodiversity. This project, in collaboration with Natural England, will quantify the multiple impacts of climate change, human activities, and biological interactions on these habitats to support their protection, sustainable management, and restoration.
Coastal habitats such as seagrasses and tidal marshes are increasingly recognized for their essential carbon capture capabilities, their ability to attenuate storm surges and accommodate flooding. Whilst efforts are being made to restore these vital habitats significant gaps in understanding the cumulative impacts of climate-driven changes, environmental forcing (e.g., flow dynamics) and biological interactions remain.
The aim of this project is to better understand the impacts of multiple stressors on UK coastal habitats, which is vital given their potential to provide more sustainable and resilient long-term solutions to coastal protection and biodiversity. This project will be carried out in collaboration with Natural England to ensure that outcomes are meaningful and applicable to support decision making on the sustainable management and restoration of these vital habitats.
Specifically, this project will 1) determine how coastal habitats (seagrasses and/or tidal marshes) respond to multiple abiotic drivers (climate warming, ocean acidification, current speed, and flow conditions) and biotic interactions (grazer dynamics, faunal sediment reworking) and 2) assess the implications for supporting nature-based solution strategies and the enhancement of coastal adaptation plans.
Using our experimental laboratory facilities and well-established protocols, experiments will be conducted under different environmental (e.g. different warming, acidification and/or flow scenarios) and biological contexts (incl. changes in faunal community composition) to determine how these interact to affect the morphology and structure of seagrass or tidal marsh species at various life-stages, which could have significant implications for the long-term restoration potential of these important UK habitats.
